Garage door



F. PREMO GARAGE DOOR Dec. 3, 1929.

Filed June 27. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l I Fem Dec. 3, 1929. F. PREMO 1,737,892

GARAGE DOOR Filed June 27, 192'? 2 Sheets- Sheet 2 B27720 M M .Patented Dec. 3, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARAGE noon Application filed June 27,

My invention relates to garage doors and the like, and the object thereof is to provide novel means for supporting a one-piece door-that is, a door comprising one rigid section adapted to be swung outwardly or moved into the garage in an overhead position when open and to counterweight or counterbalance the door in such a manner that its actuation may be accomplished with the expenditure of minimum manual effort both in the opening and closing thereof and at the same time provide a-door which, when closed, will be substantially held and may be locked to prevent unauthorized entry into the garage or other building equipped with my invention.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garage door which is made rigid and has its lower end provided with rollers adapted to be guided in tracks at the sides of the doorway and its intermediate portions supported by arms or rods suspended from the building over the doorway, and having balancing means preferably employing a counterweight associated with a fusee, so that but little effort will be required to swing the door to its open and closed positions and at the same time provides a counterbalancing means in which the weight moves at. a reduced rate as it moves down and the door approaches its fully open positionthat is, moves slower as the door is opened or raised and faster-as the door is closed or moved down, and in which the wei ht leverage or lever arm on the fusee or rum having a gradually increasing radius, increases as the door is closed and decreases as the door is opened and is moved to a position in which it is supported intermediately, and practically 49 balances itself. That is, the greatest leverage is exerted when the door is closed and exerts its greatest effective Weight and diminishes as the door is opened, and the least leverage is exerted when the door is opened and its effective weight is decreased, while the door fulcrums on its pivot produced by supporting rods pivotally connected intermediately of the door, and is provided with means for supporting the door in open position.

1927. Serial No. 201,571.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a door in which the counterbalancing equipment is of simple construction which FOIHPIISGS a minimum of parts capable of beng economically manufactured and readily installed and which will be extremely substantial and durable and not likely to get out of working order. v

Other and further objects will be apparentas the description proceeds.

In the accompanyin drawings Figure 1 is an insi e elevation showing a garage door counterbalanced in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Fi 3 is an enlarged elevation of the windmg rum.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 14 of Figure 3, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken onthe line 55 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, 6 indicates the wall of a gara e or other enclosure having a door opening in which is set a frame 8 along the vertical sides of which are provided guideways or tracks 9 suitably secured to the frame sides and which may comprise an angle or channel iron strip 10, of which two may be provided in opposed positions to produce a channel adapted to guide vertically therein rollers 11 j ournaled in brackets 12 secured to the lower inner faces and corners of a rigid single section or onepiece door 13 in such a manner that the rollers project from the opposite side edges of the door near and above the lower edge thereof on their trunnions 14 carried by the brackets 12.

The door 13 is provided intermediately of its height and at its opposite edges with bracket arms 15 having base portions 16 bolted or otherwise secured to the door above its vertical center, so that the bottom portion of the door below the bracket arms 15 is longer than the upper portion and over balances the latter by the preponderance of weight thus produced below the pivots 17 projecting outwardly from the free ends of the bracket arms. In order to hang the door, tie rods 13 tions in a manner to be hereinafter more fully explained. 1

Mounted on the wall 6 at one side of the doorway is a bracket plate 22 having an outstanding angular. bearing arm 23 bolted or otherwise'secured thereto and provided at its upwardly extending inner end with a bearing sleeve 24 in which a winding drum 25 is journa-led in conjunction with the plate 22. This winding drum has a straight cylindrical portion 26 having a flange 27 at its inner end against the bracket plate, and a fusee or drum portion 28 outwardly thereof having a gradually increasing radius inwardly. A cable 29 is anchored at one end, as at 30, to the top of the garage or other building structure or by means of any suitable support above the fusee and its opposite end is anchored to the fusee, while the intermediate loop portion or lap 31 hangs downwardly and takes a pulley 32 from which is hung a bracket 33 for supporting a counterweight 34 constitutinga counterweighting or counterbalancing means for the door.

Cables 35 are connected to the door 13 near each lower corner, the attachment being effected by means of brackets 36 or otherwise. These cables extend upwardly outside the door and over guide pulleys 37 journaled on the wall structure above the doorway, so that the cables may extend horizontally for attachment to the cylindrical portion 26 of the winding drum, as indicated at 38, to wind upon and unwind from the same.

In the operation of opening and closing the door as described, assuming that. the door is closed, the rollers 11 willbe disposed at the lower ends of the tracks 9 in the door opening, while the cables 35 will be unwound from the cylindrical drum 26, and the cable 29 will be Wound upon the fusee 28, so that the counterweight 34 will be in an elevated position as shown in Figure 1 and in solid lines in Figure 2. In this position the door may be fastened by means of a lock 39 or other fasteners provided at the top thereof so as to prevent unauthorized entrance into the garage or building through the opening closed by the door 13. When it is desired to open the door, the lock or bolt 39 is released from its keeper and the handle 40 is grasped to raise the door and at the same time exert slight pull inwardly thereon, Owing to the fact that the cable 29 is operated on by the counterweight 34 and normally tends to fall, it counterbalances the Weight of the door which is hung by the tie rods 18. However, only slight manual effort is required to raise the door to an open position. During this movement the rollers or other anti-friction members 11 travel upwardly in the tracks 9 without undue friction, the lower edge of the door moving in a vertical path guided by the tracks as the weight moves downwardly and the end of the cable 29, which iswound upon the fusee, unwinds from its large to its small end. As the cables 35 are wound on the cylindrical drum part 26 in an opposite direction to the direction of winding of the cable 29 upon the fusee, the cables 35 will thus be wound up to exert the necessary pull or strain on the bottom of the door for raising the latter. As this movement takes place, the door 13, owing to its suspension by the tie rods 18, will swing into the garage at its upper portion in the manner shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 of the drawings on the pivots 17, while the tie rods swing on the pivots at their upper ends and help to sustain the weight of the door. The lower portion of the door slightly overbalances the upper portion of the door and as the door swings up it is turned over to a position tending to balance it by reason of the rods 18 swinging past the dead center or on the opposite side of the pivots 17 until the rollers 11 moving upwardly in the tracks 9 are limited by engagement with the top of the door frame or angle strip 41 provided at the top thereof. The door will thus be swung through the .three positions shown in Figure 2 to the uppermost dotted line position, when the upper and inner end thereof will extend over brackets 42 to help support the door in the open position.

During this time the counterweight 34 will have moved from the upper position shown in full lines in Figures 1 and 2 to the dotted'line position shown in Figure 2 and the cable 29 will have unwound from the fusee 28. It will'also be seen that as the door is opened up or approaches its fully open position and the weight moves down, the counterweight descends quite rapidly as the door commences to rise and then moves at a reduced speed or rate as the door approaches its fully open position. Owing to the gradually decreasing radius of the drum or fusee 28, the weight leverage or lever arm on the fusee is greatest when the door is closed and the weight is up, and decreases as the door is opened and the weight moves down, so that the greatest leverage is exerted when the door is almost closed and exerts its greatest effective weight. This leverage diminishes as the door is opened, so that the least leverage is exerted when the door is exerting its least effective weight or decreases as this eflective weight is decreased. Inversely, when the door is lowered, the cable 29 is wound upon the fusee 28 from its small to its large end andthe counterweight moves u faster as the door moves down or is close Consequently, the leverage or lever arm, due to the radial extenison of the cable from the fusee,

increases as the door is closed to correspondingly counterbalance the increasing effectlve weight of the door as it is moved from its automobile without interfering with the free I opening and closing of the door. The mechanism is extremely simple in construction and may be readily installed in a garage or other structure without the necessity of employing springs or parts likely to get out of working order or becoming broken.

While I have, shown and described my invention in a preferred form, I am aware that various modifications and changes made therein without de arting from the principles of the invention, the scope of which may be determined by reference to the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: v,

1. In a door of the class described, a single sectioni' door, a wall or like structure having a doorway, the door being slidably and pivotally connected near its lower edge at the sides of the doorway and adapted to slide vertically and swing away from the doorway, tie rods pivotally hung from the wall and connected; to the door intermediate the height of the latter to suspend the same, and counterweighting means for the door including a winding drum arranged normal to the wall, a cable connected at one end to the door near its bottom edge and to the drum at its opposite end, a fusee, connected to the drum, a cable anchored at one end and having its opposite end connected to the fuses with a lap hanging therefrom, and a counterwe ght having a pulley receiving the lap, said weight adapted to exert a variable force on the door decreasing as the door is raised and increasing as the door is lowered.

2. In adoor of the class described, a wall or like structure having a doorway, vertical tracks at the sides of the doorway, a rigid door having antifriction members near its lowerje'nd and at its opposite edges engaging the tracks for slidabl and pivotally connecting the door at sai end, tie rods pivoted to the wall and extending downwardly for pivotal connection with the door at its opposite sides at points spaced outwardly from the face thereof, cables connected to the lowerpart of the door at its opposite sides,

pulleys over hvhich said cables are guidedhorizontally, a winding drum journaled on and arranged normal to the wall at one side of the door and having a cylindrical ortion to which. said cables are connecte said drum also having a tapered portion, another cable having one end anchored to the structure and its opposite end anchored to the tapered portion with an intermediate portion, a pulley on the intermediate portion, and a weight hung from the pulley, said weight counterbalancing the door and moving at a reducedrate as it moves down and the door approaches its fully open position and vice versa, respective drum portions having their cables oppositely wound thereon.

3. A room having a vertical wall provided with a doorway therein, a vertical track at each side of the doorway, a rigid one-piece door having at each of its lower corners a v roller arranged to travel in one of said tracks,

a tie rod for each side of the door, having its upper end pivotallyconne cted to a stationary point above the corner of the door and having its lower end connected to a point on said door spaced from the edge of the door inwardly of the room, said last namedpoint being intermediate of the height of the door and said tie rod being arranged to avoid interference with the door when the 'latter is slid upwardly and inwardly of the room, and counterweight means for said door comprising a winding drum provided with a cylindrical portion and a fusee portion, a pair of cables each having one end secured to the cylindrical portion of the drum, the other ends of the cables being respectively connected to points on said door adjacent the lower corners thereof, a cable having one end secured to the smaller end of'said fusee so that when the door is in closed position, said cable is wound up on the fusee and extends from the fusee portion of superior diameter and the other cables are unwound from the cylindrical portion and a weight carried by the fusee cable, the arrangement being such that as the door is raised the leverage or torque effect on the drum due to said weight, diminishes.

4. A room having a vertical wall provided with a doorway therein, a vertical track at each side of the doorway, a rigid one-piece door having at each of its lower corners a roller arranged to travel in one of said tracks, a tie rod for each side of the door, having its upper end pivotally connected to a stationary point above the corner of the door and having its lower end connected to a point on said door spaced from the edge of the door inwardly of the room, said last named point being intermediate of the height of the door and said tie rod being arranged to avoid interference with the door when the latter is slid upwardly and inwardly of the room, and counterweight means for said door comprising a winding drum provided with a cylindrical portion and a fusee portion and adapted to rotate on an axis adjacent one of the upper corners of the door and disposed at right angles to the plane of said door, a pair of cables each having one end secured to the cylindrical portion of the drum, the other ends of the cables being respectively connected to points on said door adjacent the lower corners thereof, a pulley around which passes the cable leading from the drum to that corner of the door remote from the winding drum and positioned so that said cable is located out of the path of movement of the door, a cable having one end secured to the smaller end of said fusee' so that when the door is in closed position, said cable is wound up on the fusee and extends from the larger end of the fusee and the other cables are unwound from the cylindrical portion of a weight carried by thefusee cable, the arrangement being such that as the door is raised the leverage or torque effect on the drum due to said weight, diminishes.

5. In a door or like closure, a wall or like structure having a doorway, tracks within the doorway at the sides thereof near its inner face, said tracks being straight throughout their lengths and extending to the top of the doorway, a door having rollers journaled at its opposite edges near the lower corners thereof and projecting outwardly from said edges, said rollers slidably and pivotally engaging the tracks, counterbalancing means for the door adapted to exert a uniformly and gradually decreasing leverage as the door is raised and a uniformly and gradually increasing leverage as the door is lowered in moving to a closed position in line with the tracks, to compensate for the variable effective weight of the door, and adjustable tie rods hung from the wall above the door at opposite sides of the latter and having inwardly offset pivotal connections with the door above its vertical center for pivotally hanging the door and causing it to fulcrum and swing at an angle in an are about the upper ends of the tie rods as a center in moving to open and closed positions, said tie rods passing over the dead center when the door is raised or lowered.

6. In a door or like closure, a wall or like structure having a doorway, tracks at the sides of the doorway, said tracks comprising angle members and channels set in said angle members, and being straight throughout their lengths and extending throughout the height thereof, a single section door, brackets at the lower corners of the door, rollers journaled in the brackets and engaging the tracks to slidably and pivotally connect the door near its lower edge with the tracks, tie rods pivotally hung from the wall above the doorway and pivotally connected to the door intermediately, and counterbalancing means for the door including a wind ing drum having a straight cylinder portion and a fusee, cables connected at one end of each to the door near the bottom thereof, pulleys above the door over which said cables extend for connection with the straight cylinder portion of the winding drum to wind upon and unwind from the same, a cable tions.

F RED PREMO. 

